MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER SEVEN
Concerning confronting the challenges and suffering inevitable in life, I've encountered a through-line across philosophies. Whether they be the ancient Greek Stoics, the European Alchemists, Japanese Zen Buddhists, or Chinese Taoists (among others), they all arrive at the same conclusion: recognize the objective world and what role you play as part of it.
MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER SIX
Is not material reality affected by mere notions, ideas, perceptions, and beliefs? Do Heaven and Earth not touch when one is moved by a sudden spirit to strum a guitar, to sing, to dance, to put pen to paper, to put paint to canvas? What are art and innovation if not the emergence of formerly hidden properties from the bridge between the objective world and the subjective experience?
MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER FIVE
“nature as creation is a relentless force
the relentless constantly faces the decay of its own fruits
the sound person also relentless
faces the decay of the fruits of mankind”
—Tao Te Ching Chapter Five
MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER Four
Potential—what is it? That which is not a thing in any singular time or space but is something that could be, or better said, could become.
MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER Three
In Chapter Three, we are greeted with a warning and a juxtaposition. This first stanza could be read, “Do not conflate wisdom with sophistication!” It rings with echoes of humble Socrates and his questioning of the sophists.
Meditations: Tao Te Ching Chapter Two
Armed with this wisdom, one can free himself from any prison and find contentment despite the suffering intrinsic to being.
Meditations: Tao Te Ching Chapter one
The first words of the first chapter present us with an enigma: “the tao source of life.” Tao is the way, the road, the narrow path along which one orients himself toward that which transcends subjective, human understanding.
Virtue in the Shade of the Leaves
“Fit oneself inwardly with intelligence, humanity and courage. The combining of these three virtues may seem unobtainable to the ordinary person, but it is easy. Intelligence is nothing more than discussing things with others. Limitless wisdom comes from this. Humanity is something done for the sake of others, simply comparing oneself with them and putting them in the fore. Courage is gritting one’s teeth; it is simply doing that and pushing ahead, paying no attention to the circumstances. Anything that seems above these three is not necessary to be known”
—Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
Direction in the Shade of the Leaves
“If one has no earnest daily intention, does not consider what it is to be a warrior even in his dreams, and lives through the day idly, he can be said to be worthy of punishment.”
—Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
Humility in the Shade of the Leaves
“If by setting one’s heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.”
—Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
The Virtues of Power
But what if one were to peer behind that yellow mask and bear witness to truth’s horrific fącade? He would, brave man that he must be to dare such a feat, learn that power does not corrupt. He would learn that all moral wisdom in regard to power is worse than mere hackery, that the inverse of common belief is truer to reality.
